News « SATA

An Ever Growing Junior’s Tournament

Over the long weekend in September, the annual Junior Inter Provincial tournament was held in Athlone, Cape Town. What made this event more exciting was the addition of a mixed u21 division, a first ever for this growing tournament. With this exciting addition, SATA were challenged to find a venue that could accommodate 5 playing fields, another first for this tournament.

It was clear from the very first round of games, that we were in for a thrilling tournament. What was immediately noticeable and particularly pleasing to see, was the improvement of basic skills by all the players. This was especially apparent in the under 17 girls division which also happened to be the largest division in the tournament with ten teams. It is great to see how quickly our sport is growing and the strong base of young players coming through the ranks.

Throughout the weekend it was clear to see that a lot of effort had gone into team preparation with focus on core skills and game structure, a remarkable improvement from previous years.It was evident that the recent Coaching Courses presented by Dennis Coffey, FIT Secretary General, had a massive impact on all the coaches. It is obvious to many senior coaches that the young talent that is coming through have the willingness and ability to take the next step as a senior rep. Senior players better watch out!

Recognition has to be given to all the people behind the scenes who put in a massive effort to ensure that the tournament ran a smooth as possible. Without the support of these helpers, we wouldn’t have tournaments at all, so thank you!

Finally, congratulations to all the players for giving your best performances throughout the tournament. The final log for each division follows below.